The proposed research will explore the relationship of two employer characteristics, corporate paternalism (orientation toward employees) and receptivity to the advice or example of other organizations, to the implementation of initiatives to control the cost of employee health benefits. Cost-containment initiatives are separated into two groups: 1) those which conform to the practices and assumptions of the traditional health care system and 2) those which do not. Paternalistic employers are expected to implement more cost-containment strategies that do not correspond with the traditional system than are laissez-faire employers. Receptivity to the advice or example of other organizations is expected to have a conditional affect on the relationship between orientation toward employees and implementation of cost-containment strategies. First, it is expected to enhance (or diminish) the relationship between paternalism and implementation, depending upon the degree of receptivity and the employer's perception of common consensus. Second, markedly paternalistic (or anti-paternalistic) employers are not expected to be as strongly affected by those around them as are more neutral employers. The proposed research may improve our understanding of factors informing employer's health benefits decisions. Moreover, widespread adoption of unconventional health benefits may influence our thinking about health and health care, and in this way alter our health care system. Understanding this process of incremental change may facilitate evaluation of its potential consequences, particularly for health care consumers. Cross-sectional data on two groups of employer organizations, members of an employer-sponsored condition and a random sample stratified to match the coalition subsample, will be collected through 20 minute telephone interviews. Two respondents, a senior manager (ideally the chief executive officer) and a middle manager (the employee benefits manager), will be sought in each participating organization. Scales will be used to measure the research constructs; relationships among them will be evaluated through multiple regression analyses, among other statistical techniques. Analyses 1) comparing paternalistic, neutral, and laissez- faire employers, 2) comparing coalition members with nonmembers, 3) comparing CEOs with benefits managers, and 4) of the sample as a whole will be performed.